Paternal and peer characteristics: interactions and association with male college students' marijuana use

Greenlandic family structure and communication with parents: influence on schoolchildren's drinking behaviour

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this paper is to investigate how changes in the Greenlandic family structure and perceived difficulties in communicating with parents affect the prevalence of alcohol consumption and the risk of drunkenness among schoolchildren.

STUDY DESIGN

The survey was carried out in February 1998 in all schools in Greenland in the context of the WHO Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study. Altogether 3,081 questionnaires were returned, which gave a response rate of 68% of the total study population. The present sample consists of 1,648 students, 826 boys and 822 girls in the age groups 11, 13 and 15 years. Descriptive statistics and a logistic regression model were applied.

RESULTS

The results showed that the risk of drinking alcohol among Greenlandic schoolchildren increased when they were living in a broken/restructured family setting, as a single mother home or living with mother and a stepfather. This risk was higher when communication with parents was regarded by the children as being poor. The risk of drunkenness increased with age. Different age groups are influenced by different factors as regards their drinking behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS

The analysis showed that alcohol drinking rose when children were living in broken families but neither gender differences of influencial factors to being drunk nor differences in drinking behaviour between social classes were found.

Gender Differences in Collegiate Alcohol Use

Using a survey of 808 male and female college students at a medium-sized state university in the Deep South, this study compared the drinking behavior of, and the social mechanisms leading to alcohol use, in the two gender groups. The results show that males are more likely than females to drink to intoxication. Three main factors can account for this difference. First, males are more likely than females to be associated with others who present prodrinking norms and drinking models. Second, females are more likely to be affected by their parents, and association with parents' more restrictive norms results in less favorable alcohol-use definitions among females, and, in turn, a lower level of alcohol use. Third, peer drinking norms, which are more permissive, exert a stronger impact on male definitions of alcohol use and level of intoxication than on female definitions.

The effects of internal and external control factors on college students' marijuana use and cessation of use

The purpose of this study was to examine how selected internal and external control variables influence lifetime use, frequency of use, and cessation of use of marijuana. The internal control factor, comprising the variables 1) perceived risk of marijuana use and 2) attitudes toward prohibition of marijuana use, refers to a built-in personal tendency toward conventionality. The external control factor refers to social-environmental forces which discourage marijuana use. External control is indicated by factors including the number of extra-curricular activities in which an individual is involved; place of residence; the availability of marijuana; peer attitudes toward marijuana use; the number of an individual's friends who use marijuana; and the number of occasions on which an individual has observed others using marijuana. The study's results show that both internal and external control factors are significant predictors of the frequency of marijuana use. The external control factor, however, plays a more important role in explaining lifetime marijuana use and cessation of marijuana use.

Fathers and daughters: their relationship and personality characteristics associated with the daughter's smoking behavior

This study examined the interrelationships of domains (i.e., sets) of paternal personality and father-daughter relationship variables and daughter characteristics and their impact on the daughter's smoking. In addition, the interactive effects of individual father and daughter variables on the daughter's smoking were studied. Female college student volunteers (N = 403) and their fathers were given closed-ended questionnaires that included a number of scales assessing father and daughter characteristics. Results indicated that the domains of father and daughter variables each had a direct impact on the daughter's smoking (an independent model). Interactive findings revealed that daughter protective factors (those conducive to her not smoking) could offset the negative impact of paternal risk factors (those conducive to her smoking), and that, to a lesser extent, daughter protective factors further enhanced the positive effect of father protective variables.

Marijuana's effects on human cognitive functions, psychomotor functions, and personality

Marijuana is complex chemically and not yet fully understood, but it is not a narcotic. Like alcohol, marijuana acts as both stimulant and depressant, but it lingers in body organs longer than alcohol. Smoking marijuana can injure mucosal tissue and may have more carcinogenic potential than tobacco. Research has indicated that marijuana intoxication definitely hinders attention, long-term memory storage, and psychomotor skills involved in driving a car or flying a plane. Expectations and past experience with marijuana have often influenced results more than pharmacological aspects have. Marijuana has triggered psychotic episodes in those more vulnerable. Psychological and some instances of physiological dependence on marijuana have been demonstrated. As a psychoactive drug, marijuana surely alters mental functioning. Although it is possible that chronic use of marijuana produces irreversible damage to mind or brain areas, this has not been determined by research.

Older brother's influence on younger sibling's drug use

This study examined the sibling relationship "having an older brother" and its effect on the younger sibling's stage of drug use. Sibling effects were examined in the context of the younger sibling's peer group. Data collected on 339 9th and 10th grade students indicated that domains of older sibling and peer factors each had independent lines of relationship to the younger sibling's drug use. The older brother's impact on his younger sibling's drug use varied, depending on friends' drug use, sex of the younger sibling, and whether or not the younger sibling identified with the older brother.